Update 7.4 release notes

*Update 7.4 went live on June 20, 2012

The detailed list of changes between updates 7.3 and 7.4:

New Content:

- Added two new combat modes, appearing randomly: Assault and Encounter.Assault: one team defends the only base, the second team should capture the base or destroy all enemy vehicles. The mode is activated for Erlenberg, Prokhorovka, Westfield, Karelia, Malinovka, Sand River and Siegfried Line.Encounter: In order to win teams have to capture the only base at the map center, or destroy all enemy vehicles. The mode is activated for El Halluf, Murovanka, Steppes, Ensk, Himmelsdorf, Ruinberg, Malinovka, Sand River, and Siegfried Line

"Expert" (by nation) - for destroying at least one example of each tank type, existing at that moment in the specified nation tech tree.

"Medal of Raseiniai Heroes" - for destroying the whole enemy team (not less than 14 vehicles). Medal will be granted automatically to all players, whose maximum destroyed in battle is equal to 15.

"Technical Engineer" (by nation) - for researching all vehicles, existing at that moment in a certain nation's tech tree.

"Senior Technical Engineer" - for researching all vehicles of all nations, existing at that moment.

"Sinai Lion" - for destroying over 100 "IS" tanks of any model and vehicles based on its model.

Game Mechanics Changes:

- Komarin and Swamp removed from Random rotation; - Added the option of training skills and perks for combined qualifications of crew (for example, training perks and skills of Radio Operator, when a Commander combines qualifications of a Commander and Radio Operator); - In order to reduce the amount of issues with "questionable" non-penetration/penetration, reworked the system of damaging with HE and armor-piercing shells. In some cases there's a possibility of damage and critical hits increase from HE shells; - Changed operation of Large Aid Kit: a constant bonus of "+5% to avoiding critical damage to crew" works till the end of the battle, even when the Aid Kit is used; - Changed operation of Large Repair Kit: a constant bonus of "+10% to repair speed" works till the end of the battle, even when the large repair kit is used; - Now Repair Kit fixes both tracks, if they are both damaged; - Changes camouflage cost for Т30, КV-2, КV-3; - Added compensation to a team hit player, proportionally to the caused damage; - Now, if a player team damages someone, and the same shot damages an enemy vehicle, the decreasing team damage coefficient is considered for this shot; - ‘Master Tanker’ achievement now becomes ‘void’, if new vehicles were added; - Changed terms of giving Lavrinenko's, Leclerc's and Abram's medal; - Terrain and objects reworked to fit new game modes on El Halluf, Murovanka, Steppes, Ensk, Himmelsdorf, Ruinberg, Erlenberg, Prokhorovka, Westfield, Karelia, Malinovka, Sand River, Siegfried's Line; - Removed inversion in howitzer view mode;

M18 Hellcat: - dispersion during movement increased by 10%; - the cost of a Top suspension reduced from 23000 credits to 17000 credits; - turning speed with the Top suspension reduced on 2 degrees per second; - 76mm AT Gun M1A1 gun reloading time reduced from 4.1 to 3.9 seconds.

UI Changes:

- Added game client notifications about relevant discounts or specials; - Changed pop-up hints on tank modules, consumables, ammunition and crew members; - Changed the information in pop-up window about vehicle; - Removed a check field for currently unavailable option "Tanker's voices by nation" (will be returned later along with feature introduction); - Added the autoloader indicator for the howitzer view mode; - Added the option of switching on the "server" reticle marker to the game settings; - Added the option of sending chat messages in a platoon; - Changed the mechanism of choosing a message receiver in the battle chat. Now for switching from messages to the team and to all players you should use "TAB" key; - Added new hot keys for opening chat window: Enter - starts team chat, Ctrl+Enter - starts general chat, Shift+Enter - starts platoon chat; - At entering the battle menu, mouse cursor is centered on the "Back to garage" button; - In a platoon or a tank company, when the Commander speaks, volume of his mates speaking in the voice chat reduces; - Reduced ‘neon’ lighting in elements of hangar vehicles panel and in pop-up hints; - Added the reaction of the program icon in Windows 7 tray for several in-game situations: battle start, invite receipt; - Added forward/rewind to combat replay playing; - On minimap, the tank point changed to "tank arrow", pointing out the motion direction, and the "view triangle" now turns according to the camera rotation; - On minimap, tank destruction is now marked with a slight tank marker flash; - During map loading and countdown before the battle start the target of the current battle mode is now indicated;

Technical Changes and Optimizations:

- Ruinberg map optimized on performance and memory consume; - All sounds in-game were optimized on compression and frequency; - Corrected the vehicles with camouflage display on old ATI Radeon video adapters; - Improved the work of chat filters; - Added new in-battle complaint point: ‘Non-informative message’; - Added controls with light-emitting diode glow over game events for ROCCAT mouse;

Fixes:

- Fixed M12 suspension name; - Fixed some inaccuracies in IS-7 and Marder II camouflages; - Fixed the work of ‘Eagle Eye’ perk in howitzer mode within the direct visibility; - Fixed the description of Fadin's Medal; - Fixed some objects on Steppes map; - Fixed several bugs with the passability on Siegfried Line, El Halluf, Ensk; - Fixed the bug with the display of "post-mortem" panel when interface is off; - Fixed the bug with the green color of "Invite" button after leaving or excluding a mate from platoon; - Fixed the rare bug with the game client hang-up at the end of map loading; - Fixed the description of ‘Brothers in Arms’ perk; - Fixed a rare ‘jamming’ of vehicle durability indicator in the vehicle marker; - Fixed the rare bug with the game client hang-up when entering ‘Sniper’ mode; - Fixed the ‘Sniper’ mode mask in the windowed-game screen for cases, when the height of the window is bigger than its length; - Fixed some inaccuracies in ‘Color-Blind’ mode; - Fixed chat text highlight after the battle start;